“They say that it was all through Carver that my father was drowned,” I said.

“Tell me, Halcro, what was the quarrel between your father and mine?  What way did it come about?”

“Well, I canna tell ye the ins and outs o’ it all, but my father had some secret about Carver, and Carver was aye afraid o’ him.  You see, Thora, folks say that when a man saves another from the sea, there’s sure to be a quarrel between them.  And my father saved Carver Kinlay—­not, perhaps, from the sea, but he saved his life.”

“How was that, Halcro?”

“It was when you were a bairn, Thora.  A ship was wrecked here on the Gaulton rocks, and all your family were aboard.  Your mother and Tom were picked up by the Curlew, but Carver and you werena found for some days after the wreck.  My father found you both in a cave, down in the cliff, and if it hadna been for him, I suppose you wouldna be here now, Thora, to say that Carver had beaten you.”

“That’s a strange thing you’re telling me, Halcro.  I never heard of it before.  And what ship was it that was wrecked?”

“The Undine.”

“The Undine!  I’ve seen that name on a box at Crua Breck that father keeps his money in.  But tell me all about it.  Did Captain Ericson tell you about the wreck?”

“No.  I only heard of it a week before he was drowned.  It was Colin Lothian and my uncle Mansie that told it me.  Auld Colin kens all about it, and more than he told to me.”

“Colin is a good old man, Halcro.  When next I see him I will ask him to tell me what it was that he kept from you.  Colin would keep nothing from me, I believe.”

“Maybe not.  But listen, and I will give you the story as I heard it.”

Thora lay down on the grass, with her hands under her chin, and I proceeded to tell her of the wreck of the Undine.

“Thank you, Halcro!” she said when I finished.  “That is all very new to me.  I remember nothing of being in that cave.  How cold I must have been!  But Carver was good to me then.  I can almost forgive him for trampling over my flowers.”

Then, after a pause, she asked:  “Have you ever been in that cave, Halcro?  Where is it?”

“I’ve not been in it,” I said; “but I ken whereabout it is.  Come and I will show you.”

And then I took her out to an abutting point of the headland, and indicated the position of the cavern behind a great rock that hid its entrance, a few feet above the high-tide mark.

“Halcro, d’you think we could get down there and see the cave?” she asked.  “Where are your climbing ropes?”

“We can manage it, I think, if you’ll try it with me, Thora,” I said.

“Ay will I try it.  Do you think I’m afraid?” said she.